FORT MYERS, Fla. — After a weekend assault takes place in the same location as a shooting in January, The City of Fort Myers is looking at downtown safety concerns.
Kit Notbohm, the owner of Celsius, said that fights are not an uncommon sight at downtown bars.
“You know, I don’t think there’s anything out of the ordinary. There are fights downtown at every bar. Every place has their moments where they have an altercation,” Notbohm said.
Notbohm said that Saturday night’s fight happened near his business.
“It happens all over the place,” Notbohm said. “I’m happy there wasn’t any gunfire or anything more serious like that.”
Next door to Celsius Nightclub is The Indigo Room, which Raimond Aulen has owned since 1994. Aulen showed us surveillance video of an incident that happened a year ago - but said similar types of behavior still happen along the streets of Downtown Fort Myers.
“There’s ups and downs. There are different cycles. But, overall, downtown is a great place to be,” Aulen said. “Every once in a while, we have some issues and I think if they were addressed properly, we wouldn’t have those issues.
Aulen said he feels that more could be done to keep the area safe.
“A lot of the times, it has to do with operators in certain formats that they have and the way they have their dress code set up and things like that,” Aulen said. “You can let things get out of hand and you’ll have problems.”
Aulen also shared that he thinks more police need to be patrolling throughout the downtown area.
Liz Bello-Matthews, a City of Fort Myers public information officer, said the city is aware of incidents that have taken place - including the shooting back in January, for which one person has since been arrested and charged.
Bello-Matthews said officers do perform foot patrols in the area.
“We do have a lot of patrols in this area, obviously, because of the nature of the business,” Bello-Matthews said. “However, we do watch the entire downtown area. Late at night, people come out of the bars and they’re happy and rowdy and things could happen. So, we are not just looking the other way. On the contrary, we’re focusing on the area because we know how important the downtown area is for the economy of the entire city.”
Notbohm said the police presence is beneficial for the area.
“The police department is posted up outside of the entrance where the Indigo and Celsius is,” Notbohm said. “So, if anything, they’re kind of a deterrent for people with bad behavior.”
Raimond said he believes police could be doing more.
“They’re down here and, come closing time, the officers and they hang out across the street in their ars or on their cars,” Raimond said. “But they’re not over here where these people are getting more involved like the officers used to back in the day.”
